Trouble, mystery, and a little love
by Nocturnal-Silver-Wolf
Summary: Clary starts to learn how to fight. Trouble is, she's terrible at it. What will happen when she's plunged into the world of shadowhunters? She must keep out of trouble - but that's harder than it seems. Set after City of Glass. R&R!
1. Training, a shouting match, and stuff

**Disclaimer: All characters and settings used in this story belong to Cassandra Clare. **

**Author's Note: I'm not really that good at writing stories, and I just wrote this because I'm bored. Please read, and tell me if I should continue it! **

**Training, a shouting match, and other stuff**

Clary was standing on a training mat in the institute.

_Aww... Crap!_ Clary thought. She had to do hand-to-hand combat for training, and not surprisingly, she was terrible at it. As much as she tried, she still couldn't get the hang of it - especially if Jace was training her.

Apparently, hand-to-hand combat was an essential, apart from balances, flips and so much more. Clary had to master hand-to-hand combat before Clary was to learn how to use a weapon. In fact, young shadowhunters brought up in Idris weren't even allowed to touch a weapon until they were about 14, and had mastered the basics. It was so ironic that Clary had participated in the deadliest war in a millennium, gone against the cleverest shadowhunter of all time, and didn't know how to use a weapon. Unfortunately, the clave was adamant about her learning 'how to be a shadowhunter' in the 'traditional way'.

_Crack!_ Clary was startled out of her reverie by a well aimed punch to her head. Muttering a few choice curses, she snapped her head up, eyes thin as slits, wondering who could possibly hit her when she wasn't ready.

"Jace!" Clary complained, as she rubbed her head. "What was that for? I wasn't ready!"

"Oh? And do you expect you eneher to say 'hey, I'm going to punch you, get ready'?"

"Still," she reluctantly got into a protective stance. "You could have warned me!"

Without warning, Jace threw a punch at her, which she tried to block - unsuccessfully. _Ouch! _There was no predicting Jace when was fighting. Fighting was like second nature to him, first being kissing her, and making out with her, of course.

Clary noticed for the first time, that Jace was only wearing a pair of black jeans. She let her eyes roam, taking in his shirtless figure. _Perfect._ Yup, he looked just perfect - and yummy - in his jeans. If only she could just get her hands on him...

"As much as I know you just love looking at me shirtless," Jace waggled his eyebrows, as Clary blushed furiously, trying not to look at him. "We seriously have to get on with training."

"Can't I just have a break? Please? I mean I'm already drained!" she looked at him with big round eyes, wondering if she could possibly charm him into letting me off.

"We've only been here for about 1 minute," he observed drily. _Apparently not._

**Five minutes later...**

"Ahh!" Clary yelped, jumping back, as she had just gained her twentieth bruise. He now held her in a whatever-it-is-lock (she couldn't be bothered to remember numerous locks she had been taught). Whatever lock it was, it certainly worked, because she couldn't move an inch.

She put in her last effort to break free, trying to kick, punch, scratch, bite - just get out of that damned position! A few seconds later, she realised that this was a futile attempt.

"Could you just let me up?" she asked.

"Unfortunately for you, she quite enjoy seeing you struggle, and she have absolutely no intention of letting you go," Jace grinned at me wolfishly.

_We'll see about that. _she thought, tensing her muscles in anticipation.

"Could you just lean closer?" she asked, in her best seductive voice. "You're so good that there's no way that I'll get free!"

She could almost see his ego inflating, as he tried to keep a smirk off his face. "I must be really good, if even you admit it."

"Come on," she whispered softly.

His common sense was wavering, as he leaned closer.. and closer.. until..

She brushed her lips against his, letting a torrent of emotions overwhelm her. It was pure bliss. Almost unconsciously, he shifted his position, so he was on top of her, one hand running through her hair, the other roaming, exploring her body. One second on her back, the next, down... The kiss grew more passionate, and she slipped her arms around his neck, winding her hands through his soft gold curls, pulling him closer as he kissed me harder, and harder, as if it was his life's source. As she grew more confident, she too, let her hands roam, tracing the scars on his back...

Someone cleared their throat. Jace and Clary jumped apart, as if they had been electrified. They turned to see who had rudely interrupted them, with identical guilty expressions etched on their faces. Maryse, Jocelyn, Isabelle, Simon and Alec stood by the door. _Oh, shit!_

Maryse looked furious, in fact, that was an understatement. She practically had steam fuming out from her ears. Her glare was like a laser.

Isabelle, didn't look one bit surprised that we had been making out. she would even venture to say that she looked amused.

Alec cocked his eyebrow at us, as if to say: making out? Not shocked, Magnus and she do that all the time. With Maryse, and Jocelyn here though? Nope, never. So, good luck to you, because you're dead.

Simon had a blank expression on his face. she could tell that he had no intention of taking sides.

At last, she turned her eyes to Jocelyn, her mother. she saw a mix of emotions. Anger first of all, that she was misusing her time, sadness, maybe because she wasn't as close to as before? Finally, she saw disappointment.

"You know," Jace said, breaking the silence. "It's common courtesy to knock on the door before coming in." Clary looked at Jace, shifting closer to him, as if it was safer there, and she saw his guiltiness, melt away, leaving only annoyance, and his cocky, arrogant attitude.

There was about a ten second silence, before the screaming began.

Clary sat at home, on the sofa, getting increasingly nervous. Jocelyn was probably going to scream, and rant, and shout. At the institute, Clary had found out that Maryse and Jocelyn had come to watch her train, and see what progress she had made - it was supposed to be a surprise visit, so they could see if she was slacking off. Alec, Isabelle and Simon had just tagged along, as there seemed to be nothing to do these days. When Maryse and Jocelyn had come in, they had gone berserk. It had taken their combined efforts - Jace, Alec, Isabelle, Simon, and her efforts to calm them down. In the end, Jocelyn had enough sense to bring her back home, and 'talk' about it.

Jocelyn, her mother, came in, and stood in front of her, hands on her hips, waiting. The fire that Jocelyn had, seemed to have died out, and she was no longer that angry. Clary breathed a sigh of relief - maybe it wasn't going to be a shouting contest!

"I'm very disappointed with you." Jocelyn said. "I expected you to be learning, yet for the first time I come to visit, you're with Jace. I understand how it's like for you. I was like that too. You want to do what he does, want him to think that you're perfect, just to be with him, all the time. I know that, but Jace isn't... safe. He's too much like Valantine, even though he's not Valentine's son by blood - like you are - but he was raised by him. I know Valentine - your father's behaviour, more than anyone, and I can tell that Jace is very like Valentine. His attitude, behaviour, even the ability to charm people into doing what he wants! I'm just worried about you."

"Don't talk about Jace like that," Clary whispered quietly. "He isn't like that. Jace hated Valentine, Jace is nowhere as cruel as Valentine was! Jace can be arrogant, he can be an ass, but he's also the most kind and caring person I've ever met!"

"I should have known that you would act this way," Jocelyn sighed. "There is no use trying to talk sense into you when your head is stuck in the clouds. I just hope in the end, you will make the right decision. I just hope you're right about Jace."

Clary didn't say anything, instead choosing to stomp up stairs - in a childish manner - to her room. She slammed the door shut, and collapsed onto her bed, not bothering to take off her shoes. Seconds later, tears streamed down her face and she fell into a haze of self-pity. _It wasn't fair!_ She had been training for a few weeks now, and she still couldn't get the hang of it. Jace wasn't helping either, all he was doing was pushing her harder and harder. Even when she tried her best, he pushed harder, forcing her to jump higher, move faster, hit stronger. She didn't want this Jace, trainer Jace, warrior Jace, the Jace that was adrenaline-filled-because-of-fighting. No, all she wanted was _her_ Jace, the Jace that she loved, the one that was gentle and loving.

She lay there, on her bed not moving, not even bothering to go down to eat dinner. She had lain there for a few hours now.

_Tap! Tap!_ Clary looked around, not seeing anything out of ordinary, she lay back down. Then, she heard it again. _Tap! Tap!_ What was it? She looked at the window, to see Jace hanging just outside. "Open the window!" Jace mouthed at her. Quickly, Clary slid out of her bed, and opened the window. Jace swung himself inside, landing with a slight _thud_.

"Shh!" Clary whispered. "What are you doing here?"

"Coming to see you, of course!" Jace wiped a tear from her face, and proceeded to kiss her gently. "I knew that you'd be pretty upset, so I came to cheer you up!"

Clary smiled against his lips. _This was going to be a good night._


	2. The Mystery

**Disclaimer: All characters and settings used in this story belong to Cassandra Clare. **

**Author's Note: It's been quite a long time since I've updated, and I apologize for that. I was originally planning to finish this chapter, and post it by February 14th (Valentine's day) (It's valentine's day in the chapter) but as you can see I've failed miserably. I tried to make up by writing over 5000 words (that is a lot for me - it took me ages to write it). I hope you like it! R&R!**

**The Mystery**

Clary sat next to Jace, in Taki's. They had just finished training, and were ravenous. After Maryse and Jocelyn had found Jace and Clary making out in the training room, they had been banned from training together. So, Clary had ended up training with various other trainers that the clave had sent. Most of them were extremely serious, and were exceptionally good at fighting - they were the best of the best. The clave considered Clary a valuable asset, as like Jace, she had more angel blood in her than other shadowhunters, due to Valentine, her father, experimenting on her. Trainers had been sent, to educate her as a shadowhunter. Unfortunately, apart from the few hours spent teaching her how to fight, attack and defend herself, this included drilling in endless amount of facts.

Clary sat next to Jace, twirling a lock of hair absentmindedly, lost in her thoughts, as she waited for her food to arrive. It was Valentine's day today, and the restaurants were decorated with pink and red hearts. Taki's was too, and personally, Clary thought that it was a bit too much.

Taki's wasn't a festive kind of restaurant. It had old wooden tables and worn down chairs. The only thing worth coming here for, Clary thought, was for the food, and the magical air the was in there. Downworlders, such as werewolves, vampires, and even faeries would come here. There was a separate menu for each species, werewolves mostly eating bloody steaks, while the vampires had a whole range of blood types - was there really any difference to the taste of each blood type? Weren't they all the same?

The food arrived, and soon they were eating - in silence. Clary ate her spaghetti fra diavolo, marvelling at the taste. She would love to be able to cook as well as the Taki's chefs, not that she was particularly bad at cooking, unlike Isabelle.

Whenever Isabelle had made an attempt to cook something, Clary had learnt to stay away, normally saying that she had already ate. One time however, Isabelle had insisted that Clary, Jace and Alec try her spaghetti. Clary tried refusing, saying that she was full, having already ate a while ago. Of course, Isabelle had known that she was lying, and it didn't help that Clary had given an astonishingly loud rumble. She had been dragged to the kitchen, surprised to see Jace and Alec already there. They had to force down the poisonous 'food'. It was literally poisonous, as they spent the rest of the day in the toilet, puking their guts out.

"It's a good thing that my mum allowed me to stay out tonight," Clary tried to break the silence.

"Yeah, well she couldn't exactly keep you locked in all the time could she?" Jace grinned at her mischievously. "We could do other stuff too, she didn't really outline what we could and couldn't do..."

Clary felt herself blush, and slapped Jace's arm playfully. "Well, it's not like we're going to do anything she wouldn't allow."

Jace shrugged, rubbing his arm ruefully, pretending to look hurt.

"I could always do with a heavy make out session," Jace waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Or we could do other stuff, such as -"

"Okay, okay, I get your idea!" Clary was getting really uncomfortable talking about that.

"Just saying!" Jace said, arms up in an I-surrender-now-no-need-to-kill-me position.

Clary gave him a final glare, before asking, "What are Isabelle and Simon going to be doing? I mean it's Valentine's day!"

"If I know Isabelle well enough, she'd be wearing some super sexy outfit, that would make Simon stare at her chest for the entire meal, while Simon would be - I don't know, why don't you tell me?"

"Simon said it would be a surprise," Clary said shortly.

"Whatever. Hurry up and finish eating, I got other things to do in mind."

They finished eating, and Clary proceeded to walk home, with Jace tagging behind. It wasn't a very long walk, but they had to go though places well downworlders dwelled, and Jace didn't really like the idea of Clary walking home.

Finally, they came to a stop, in the front of the house. Clary tilted her head up, and Jace bent down to kiss her slowly. Her mouth almost unyielding at first, but gradually softening once he gained entrance to her mouth. They started exploring each other's mouths, or 'playing tonsil hockey' as Simon used to call it. Jace then kissed deeper, growing more hungry, much much more hungry, wanting more, and more. The next thing Clary knew, her back was against the wall, arms curled around his neck, running though his soft golden curls. Jace's hands were on her waist, but slowly inched under her shirt, moving up, until he reached her breasts. Clary too, slipped her hands under his shirt, feeling the hot tight muscles underneath, raking her nails on his back, making him moan against her mouth - not that he was much of a masochist, but he just liked a little pain. Jace then caught her lower lip, sucking on it hard, then dragged it through his teeth, making her moan breathlessly. They finally broke apart, breathing hard.

"That was... good," Clary said, raggedly, unlike the nonchalant tone she wanted.

"Yeah," he grinned, "I guess you have to go now."

"Yeah," Clary looked slightly rueful.

She took out a bunch of keys, and opened the door, to find her mother, Jocelyn, standing right behind it.

"Clary, you're home!" Jocelyn stood there, beaming at both Clary and Jace. "And you're not late at all!"

Jocelyn had made Jace promise to bring Clary back by ten, not one minute late. Jace had grudgingly agreed.

"What kind of boyfriend would I be if I brought Clary back home late?" Jace asked, cockily. "I'm trying to make a good impression you know," he winked at Clary.

"You'd be a badass cocky arrogant one, who thinks he can get away with anything," Clary looked up at him sweetly. "But hey! It's already a very fitting description you!"

"Ouch. That hurt."

"Well, that's the truth!"

"I'm not cocky and arrogant!"

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Yes, you are!"

"Okay, okay, I am sometimes," Jace glared at her- then slowly, a devious grin crept up his face. "But you know you like me like that... You have to admit that attitude turns you on!"

"Does not!" Clary's cheeks were suspiciously red.

"It does, and you know it," Jace winked, but then he sighed. "Let's just stop fighting now, I'm tired of it. Really."

"Jace has to go now, don't you?" Jocelyn glared at Jace, signalling that he was to go now, or serious consequences would follow.

"B-but," Clary stared at Jace helplessly.

Jace stepped forward, and gave her a sweet kiss, whispering, "I'll see you later."

Clary looked at him questioningly, wondering what he could possibly mean by that. It wasn't that Jace wasn't careful, but Jocelyn, seemed to have a Jace-radar built in, and had caught every his every attempt. Every attempt, except one.

Clary gave up trying to persuade Jocelyn to let Jace stay longer, and watched as the door finally closed. She watched him walk down the driveway, feeling pang in her chest as she did. Jace, turned around, as if sensing her gaze, and grinned.

Clary finally turned around, walked up the stairs, and collapsed into her bed. She had to finish her homework. Although Clary was training to be a shadowhunter, she still had to attend mundane schools, Jocelyn was adamant about that. To make matters worse, she had to do a whole load of exams about useless stuff - trigonometry, chemistry and other stuff. Who needed to know what happened when you added sulphuric acid with iron anyway?

Clary worked on her homework, trying to finish it as fast as possible, then, she started revising. By midnight, her head was whirling with algebra - it wasn't as if she hated it, but it really got on her nerves sometimes. x = 2.5 y = 8 she had really had to stop thinking about this.

She changed into a pair of shorts, and a tank top, snuggling into her bed, after she had turned off the light.

Her room, as it was dark, was creepy. Shadows creeping up, ready to kill, the creaking of the stairs that were next to her bedroom, signalling an unwelcome visitor walking up the stairs. The constant thumping of a hag, begging to be let in. Clary shuddered to think what was outside the safe haven of her bed.

"Are you cold?" Jace wrapped his arms around Clary, pulling her closer.

Clary jumped, thinking that it was that unwelcome visitor that hadn't dared venture into her room - until now, before realising that it was Jace. "When did you get here?"

"Just now, when you weren't paying attention," Jace kissed her cheek surprisingly gently. "A little jumpy are we now?"

Clary was both embarrassed and horrified that Jace had managed to sneak up to her. What if she wasn't paying attention when the troll came? No, no, there was no such thing as a troll, though she was sure she had seen it once as a little girl.

"Through the window," Jace said, as he closed it, stopping the cold chill of air flowing in. "Just like last time, don't want to get caught again."

Clary pulled the blanket up, so it covered them both, buried her head into Jace's shirt, breathing in his warm familiar scent. She gazed up Jace, his warm golden eyes were full of love, so perfect, she felt like she was in a safe haven, protected from all sorts of creatures, trolls, hags, and most of all, demons.

He leaned toward her, kissing her, gently, coaxing her mouth to open slightly, enough for his tongue to slide in. He explored her mouth tentatively, slipping his hands under her shirt, running his hands along her back, then her front. Clary did the same, also slipping her hands under his shirt, trying to memorise the feel of his skin, the hot, hard contours. He gave a soft moan as she did that, giving her encouragement to go on. His eyes that were gentle, filled with love, were replaced with pure lust.

He started kissing her hungrily, kissing a hot trail of kisses from her throat to her mouth again, kissing her hard, and possessively. His hands, though having calluses from hard work, were gentle, caressing her, making her want him to touch her everywhere, every part of her body. He ran his hands along her body, down her spine, making her shiver pleasantly. He kissed her, getting hungrier and hungrier by the second, wanting to be closer to her, but it wasn't enough, it never was enough. Clary tried to yank his shirt off, to lessen that barrier between them, finally managing to, and throwing it onto the floor, while kissing Jace back fervently. Her eyes drank it the sight of him shirtless, he was breathtaking.

Jace pushed her back to the bed, so that he was on top of her, kissing her, caressing her, knowing exactly which points to press, to give her pleasure, to make her crave for more, it was not just any woman's points, but hers, he knew her too well. His mouth made the way down, kissing a hot trail as he did, finally coming to her neck, and sucked her pleasure point. Clary bit her lip, trying not to moan, as not to wake her mother up, but didn't succeed, letting out a whimper of pleasure. Clary couldn't take it any more, and looped her fingers in his jeans starting to take it off -

"Clary," Jace whispered huskily. "Not now, we can't do this." His eyes however, weren't saying the same things, they were hungrily glancing up and down her body, wanting her so badly that he could hardly stand it.

She wanted to carry on as badly, but she acknowledged the logic behind his words, instead settling for snuggling up with him, under her blanket, resting her head on his chest.

"Do you want to listen to a bedtime story?" he murmured.

"Another one? About what?" Clary asked. "Not one about Valentine again, and that eagle of yours."

Clary felt him smile. "No, a different one."

As Clary listened, she slowly fell asleep, her eyelids getting heavier, until they slipped shut.

Bang! The door was opened with a surprising amount of force. Clary woke up blearily, to see Isabelle standing by the door, with half opened eyes. Isabelle for her part, was staring at them, gapping at them like a goldfish. She hurriedly realised what she was doing, and closed it.

"Uh," Isabelle was staring at them. "Why is Jace here?"

Clary eyes automatically flicked to Jace, to realise that his shirt was off, while the rest of him was under her blanket. Clary's body was fully covered by the blanket, so, it must have seemed to Isabelle that they had slept together.

Jace started to stir, yawning before looking down at Clary. "If I could wake up to you every day, I'd be a lucky guy," he grinned, before realising Isabelle was standing there.

"Izzy!" Jace exclaimed, feigning shocked. "Why are you here? Hasn't anyone told you to knock the door while coming in? What if you walked into us having -"

Clary clapped a hand over his mouth, whacking his head lightly with the other. "Don't listen to him. Why're your here?"

Isabelle, recovering from her initial shock, cried out, "Simon's missing! I've tried calling him, but he's not answering, I've gone to his house, I've checked his school, I've even asked all his band members where he is but they don't know!"

"Oh," Clary said, taking everything in. "Wait, how do you know the members in his band?"

Isabelle, to Clary's surprise, blushed, "He introduced them to me, as his girlfriend"

"Ah," Clary nodded, knowingly. _Huh, Isabelle was definitely getting possessive. Which wasn't surprising at all._

"Okay, we'll help you find him, but," Jace smirked. "You've got to let me put on my pants first."

"Uh," Isabelle appeared slightly nauseous. "Too much information." Isabelle turned around, stalking to the door, before turning around and adding, "You're lucky your parents have left early. They weren't home when I arrived." Isabelle closed the door shut.

"Jace!" Clary glowered at him. "Don't give Isabelle the wrong idea! We didn't do anything! And your pants are still on!"

"Oh? So the hot make out scene we had last night didn't count?" Jace stayed infuriatingly calm, an aggravating smirk dancing on his face. "And last night my pants nearly came off. Don't deny it, you wanted to see me naked, you can hardly resist me."

Clary flushed red, admitting to herself that really was the truth, even allowing herself to give him a once-over. She was definitely going to commit this to her memory. Jace sitting on her bed, in black jeans, golden curls flying all over the place - but she quite liked his bed head.

"You see! You're staring at me!" Jace was nearly jumping up and down with glee, like a little child who had gotten an early birthday present.

"Ugh," Clary rolled her eyes. "Don't let it get into your head."

"I'll definitely remember this," Jace had a huge grin plastered to his face.

_Jerk. Always had to have the last word. _Clary thought, seemingly irritated.

They were standing in the living room of Clary's house. Isabelle, for some reason, had felt the need to wear something highly sophisticated. She wore black combat boots, a weird looking black shirt, that had a neckline way too low for Clary's comfort. Clary had worn a pair of jeans, a black tank top, on top of that, she wore a dark green hoodie.

"Where're we going?" Clary asked Jace, as they walked out of the institute.

"Simon's home first," Jace replied, taking her hand in his.

Clary was so surprised that she nearly yanked her hand out of his, but found that it was quite comforting, and simply let it be. What she didn't get however, was why they were going to Simon's house. Isabelle had already told them that she had checked, so why were they going there?

Jace, seeing the evident confusion written on her face, said, "We need to see if he was kidnapped, or he went willingly. If he had packed, then it might have meant that he was going willingly, or that he was in a hurry to get out of here, but if he didn't..." Jace let his voice trail off from there, to Clary's relief, not going through a list of things that could have happened to Simon. A surge of helplessness then took over her. Simon could be kidnapped, he could be killed even!

"What happens then? What if he was kidnapped? What will we do? Who'll help us?" Clary looked up at Jace desperately.

"It'll be alright, Simon can take care of a lot of stuff now. He's a vampire, one that can walk in daylight too! Not without thanks to someone though," Jace said rather pointedly.

Clary couldn't but help smile at Jace's cocky attitude, squeezing her hand in his, she gave him a tentative smile.

"So you're all right now? Not going to break into tears?" Jace asked jokingly, though looking a little scared at another outburst.

Clary narrowed her eyes at him, "No." Then, she broke into a smile, letting her good mood take her along. She skipped ahead, only pausing to look back and ask, "Are you coming or not?"

Jace shook his head, muttering something that sounded like 'weird mood swings'.

When they got to Simon's house, Clary rung the bell, figuring that Simon's mother was more likely to let them in if she asked than if any others did, as Simon and her were best friends before they had learnt about the shadowhunter world.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Lewis," Clary said, smiling at Mrs. Lewis. "Could we go up to Simon's room, as he seems to have forgotten something, and had told me to get it for him?"

Mrs. Lewis nodded distractedly, "Sure, if there's anything you need, just holler will you?"

Clary nodded, stepping in cautiously. Everything was as she saw it last, nothing seemed out of place. Clary climbed up the stairs, to the second floor, with Jace following her closely. She turned into Simon's room, half expecting Simon to be sitting on his bed waiting for her to say it was all a joke.

Simon's room was a disarray. Clothes thrown all over the floor, bed unmade, comic books scattered all over the floor, but that wasn't really a surprise for Clary. Ever since he was little, he would leave his things lying around, and no matter how much his mother nagged him to pick it up, he could never be bothered.

Simon had liked to read comics, and quite a few books had been thrown onto the floor, but most were neatly placed on his huge mahogany bookshelf, filled with millions of comics. Clary didn't really see what was so interesting about comics, they were just a bunch of pictures, with words!

"There doesn't seem to be anything different about his room," Clary stated mildly. "It's as messy as ever."

Jace walked around the room, careful not to step on anything. He took out a comic from the bookshelf, flipped it open, and looked at it in disdain. "Simon reads Superman?"

Clary couldn't help but grin. Simon had gone through a stage when he practically worshiped Superman, talking about it like he was the best hero in the world, and how he, Simon, had wanted to follow his path.

_He can't do that anymore,_ Clary thought, miserably._ Not that Simon was like Superman, more like Dracula. Unless Superman drinks blood, and I never knew about it._

"Huh," Jace muttered, jolting Clary out of her thoughts. "I shouldn't be surprised. But somehow, I am."

Clary opened Simon's wardrobe, scanning through it. Simon had taken to wearing leather jackets, abandoning his now-extinct wardrobe of hoodies, and sneakers for designer boots, which had taken a fortune to buy. This was the result in dating Isabelle, and Clary thought that though she wasn't used to seeing him like that, he looked pretty hot.

He had longer hair now, a fringe to cover his forehead, he needed that to cover the mark of cain that Clary had put on him, so he wouldn't look to conspicuous. He was also playing a typical vampire bad boy, seductive, dark and brooding. The wallpaper had been the result of his dark mood, as he had splattered black paint on it, coating the layer of light blue that had originally been there.

"Well, we didn't learn anything new," Clary glanced around. "We might as well go now."

Jace shrugged, carefully manoeuvring his way out. Suddenly he stopped, stooped down, and picked something off the ground.

"What is it?" Clary asked, anxiously.

"His mobile," Jace was flicking through the messages that Simon had received. "We can find out who he met and who he was talking to."

Unknown Number:

Good day.

_Simon_hottest_nerd_in_town:_

_Who r u?_

_Unknown Number:_

_You know who I am._

_Simon_hottest_nerd_in_town:_

_Wat do u want?_

_Unknown Number:_

_Meet me at 8. Same place._

_Simon_hottest_nerd_in_town:_

_K, see u there._

"Who do you think he was seeing?" Clary puzzled over who Simon would be seeing.

"Well, it's obvious that he's seen him before," Jace said.

"That guy sounds like he's doing something illegal, or part of some kind of organisation," Isabelle mused. "Maybe part of a vampire clan?"

"Why do you both assume that it's a male?" Clary asked, looking more curious than offended.

"Because, all men are either are ruled by their money, their dick, or revenge of some kind. Instead of thinking with their head, they're fuelled by testosterone," Isabelle replied haughtily. "Anyway, what kind of woman would take part in a kidnapping?"

"Hey," Jace glared at Isabelle, indignantly. "I'm not like anything you've described!"

"Oh yeah? Last time I checked, you had wanted to kill Jonathan -"

"Which I succeeded in!"

"- and you kill demons only because you feel like you can make up for the bad deeds that you have done!"

"You aren't any better, Isabelle! You only date guys that our parents don't approve of, like faeries, vampires, even werewolves! You're so self-absorbed and vain, that you don't realise that your outfit just spells 'slut' and 'easy to get to bed'!"

"Uh, guys?" Clary was watching Jace and Isabelle argue to and fro, not wanting to get involved in the argument.

"- like you're any better. Don't think I don't know how many girls you've toyed with, playing with their feelings and dumping them as if they were trash! You're hardly a virgin!"

"That wasn't my fault! They should have known better, it was obvious that I wasn't going to love them, was it? Do I look like a guy for a long term relationship?"

"So that's how you feel about Clary? That she's someone you can throw away when it's all over?

"Keep Clary out of this! She's -"

"Stop arguing!" Clary was waving her hands, trying to get their attention. "Simon's missing and all you can do is argue about how many people you've taken to bed!"

Jace and Isabelle both stopped to look at her, not because of what she had just said - they could easily ignore her - but because she sounded like she was going to burst into tears.

"I'm sorry," Jace wasn't sure if Clary was more upset about Simon, or hearing about how many people he had been with.

Clary didn't answer, instead crossing her arms across her chest, seeming to find the floor very interesting. "Let's go, there's nothing useful here." She turned, and walked out of the room.

Jace and Isabelle exchanged looks, both feeling uneasy and slightly guilty.

"This is all your fault," Jace muttered.

"What I said was the truth," Isabelle retorted. "She had every right to know how many people you had been with before her."

Jace didn't returned any snappy remarks, instead he decided to ignore her, hurrying out to catch up with Clary.

"Clary," Jace jogged down the driveway. "You know I feel nothing for those girls, right? You're everything to me, and no matter how many girls I've been with, you'll be the only one I'll love, even if it kills me."

Clary didn't answer, she didn't look up, she just stared at the solid ground, a blanket of red hair separating them.

Jace watched as a tear slowly ran down her face, and dripped down, feeling a heavy weight in his chest. _I'm so sorry. I love you, they're nothing to me, _Jace thought, but words did not form from his lips.

"So, where're we going to find the kidnapper? Where should we look?" Isabelle asked, oblivious to the tension in the air. Her eyes flickered to both of them, "Am I interrupting something?"

"No," both Jace and Clary answered too quickly, giving them away.

"Oh..." Isabelle raised an eyebrow. "Clary, I didn't really mean what I said before, Jace loves you."

"Yeah, whatever," Clary shrugged. "Where're we going next on our detective mission? Any ideas?"

"We could 'live' through Simon's life," Jace suggested. "So we could ask the people he usually is with whether he has been acting strangely, and where he's been lately."

The three of them could think of no better ideas, so they did as Jace suggested.

"Let us all make up our own songs now! 10 minutes later, we'll all be performing!" Eric yelled. The drumroll that a guy in the band had been doing as Eric announced ended with an epic crash on the symbols.

As soon as that was said, the band members all starting singing at the top of their voices, trying to drown each other out. Clary tried to cover her ears._ They should really give up this band business, they sing terribly, and they change their name every week. What kind of band does that?_

They hadn't learnt anything new about Simon. He had just done the same things, and when they asked people Simon had seen lately whether he had been acting strangely, none of them had noticed difference in Simon's behaviour. He hadn't happened to mention where he had been going, or who he was meeting either. Isabelle couldn't think of anything different with Simon lately, except that he 'looked way hotter than before', which didn't help the tiniest bit.

It had been a waste of time. In that time, Simon could easily have been killed, tortured or worse. They had to find him as soon as possible. What they had put together however, was that whatever the kidnappers wanted, only Simon could give them. They had figured that out, as there was no ransom call, nor news of any other kidnappings - not that the vampires would let them in on such news.

"Now, it's time to perform!" Eric announced, seeming extremely excited. "I'm going first!"

There was a roar of approval from the rest of the room, and Eric started the sing his ear-piercing song that he had just composed.

"Ugh, I don't think we're going to find any new information about Simon," Clary had enough of listening to Eric's 'music'.

"Yeah, the only thing I learnt about today was that Simon has a really bad taste in music, if Eric is in his band," Jace muttered. "Let's go."

Isabelle surveyed the scene in front of them, and noticed Maia standing in a corner. "We could go ask Maia..."

"Hi Maia," Clary smiled at the other girl, genuinely happy to see her there. "Have you seen Simon lately? We're looking for him." Clary kept the fact that they thought that Simon had been kidnapped, as not to alarm Maia.

"Simon?" Maia asked. "He took me out to a date just yesterday! We had a cup of coffee, then went over to his place to play video games and read comics."

"He what?" Isabelle was outraged. "He's supposed to be dating me!"

"No, he's been dating me for at least a month," Maia narrowed her eyes at Isabelle.

"That's the time he started dating me!" Isabelle looked as if sparks were flying out of her eyes. "He was two timing?"

"Uh," Clary suddenly felt very uneasy. "He sort of, uh, couldn't chose between both of you, so he dated both of you. He thought as he wasn't dating any of you exclusively that it was okay. I mean he liked you both a lot." Clary added quickly.

Jace chuckled. "So, he's popular isn't he? Remind me to congratulate him next time I see him."

Both Isabelle and Maia trained their death glares at him, asking in unison, "What did you say?"

"Nothing, nothing," Jace said, hurriedly.

"Anyway, did Simon seem to be acting differently than normal?" Clary inquired.

"Well, we did the same things as normal," Maia shot a pointed look at Isabelle. "But then he said that he had to go somewhere, so I left at around half past seven."

"Did he mention where?" Clary exchanged looks with Jace.

"When I asked, he refused to tell me, but I heard him saying something about 'going to the filthy alleyway downtown' and that it was a 'vampire hideout'."

"Thanks a lot," Clary mind was whirling.

"That's okay, text me if you need me, or need to ask me any more questions. If it's about Simon, I'll be happy to help out," Maia called, as she skipped away to the band.

"There's only one place that could be a vampire hideout, that is downtown," Jace stated.

"Where's that?" Clary was still quite new to the downworlders, but if that vampire hideout was the one that Raphael owned, she had no intention of going there again. "You'll see," Jace answered. "We've got to go back to the institute, to get some weapons, before going to their hideout. The vampires might not exactly welcome us."

Clary, Jace and Isabelle stepped out onto the street. A cloak of darkness covered the sky, only the moon, a shining pearl amidst the inky black sky gave off any light.

"Full moon," Clary murmured as she glanced at her watch. "Werewolves come out, howling at the moon and... It's so late! I need to get back before my mother kills me!"

"When are we going to go to the vampy hideout then?" Jace asked. "We have to go in the night anyway, we might as well go today. Unless you're willing to sneak out of your house, in the middle of the night, without waking your mother - which is incredibly difficult, as I've had a lot of experience trying to get in - and go downtown to the vampy hideout. Plus you'll have to go to the institute first to arm yourself, which will take quite a lot of time."

"My mum made me promise that I would get back by ten today, as she wasn't very pleased the last times I got back from training, because I was quite late..."

Jace sighed. "Okay, but we'll have to go soon, we don't know what's happening to Simon right now."

Clary nodded, not trusting herself to speak, having just reminded of the horrors that Simon might have endured.

Clary closed her eyes. She was lying on her bed, having just taken shower. Her mother, Jocelyn had given her quite a reprimanding when she had gotten home. With so many things on her mind, she hadn't given even a word of protest.

Simon was her best friend. He had always been, and she was terrified that he had gone missing. He had to have gotten in very big trouble to have been kidnapped. He might have been tortured until he was senseless! He might - that would have been impossible. Simon had the mark of cain on him, and whoever tried to harm him, would receive in sevenfold what they had tried to inflict on him. Clary's spirits instantly lifted after remembering that.

And then there was Jace. He had been with so many girls before her. She was pretty, but not that pretty, there were plenty of girls that looked much more beautiful than her. He had told her she was beautiful, but she highly doubted that - that was the sort of thing your boyfriend said, even if he thought any different. She was smart, but there were also many smart girls, she hardly ever got full marks on her tests, and she was failing miserably at learning how to fight, and how to become a shadowhunter.

She knew that Jace loved her. She did, she really did, she could see it in his eyes, that he meant every word he said, and he'd keep any promise that he made. It was just, just that she couldn't bear imagining someone before her, someone that could make Jace laugh, someone who would be able to kiss him, like she had. Maybe she was his, she belonged to him - she had only been with Simon before, but it was more of a best friend relationship than one of a girlfriend with her boyfriend - but he could never truly be hers. He had too many relationships, he could get any girl he wanted - she had seen evidence of this when she had walked into Aline and him kissing passionately. Those thoughts disheartened her, before she finally fell asleep.

**So, that was the end of my chapter. How did you like it? There is a review button at the bottom of this page, and I would appreciate it if you use it. (That's the whole point of that little button :D)**

**How did you like Maia and Isabelle's meeting, and how do you think that Jace and Clary are going to fare? **

**Anyway, thanks for reading!  
**


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